Subject:

Abstract:

This master thesis is about Dr. Munks testamente by the Norwegian author Ragnar Hovland. The book was published in 1996, and got mixed reviews when it came out. In my opinion, the reviews are based upon deficient readings.
I have tried a postmodernist approach to the text. In my exposition of the concept postmodernism", I have looked upon theories from Jean-François Lyotard, Fredric Jameson and Linda Hutcheon. I have also used some of the dichotomies that Ihab Hassan uses to distinguish between modernism and postmodernism.
Dr. Munks testamente also delivers some comments about culture and the society. To explore these, I have used thoughts from Bourdieu and his authoritarian book La Distinction. To be able to look upon the book according to contemporary conditions in Norway, I have used the results published by Ove Skarpenes in the article: "The junction of the "legitimate culture"" ("Den "legitime kulturens" moralske forankring").
The postmodernist and the cultural approach cross when it comes to mix high- and popular culture. This mix is most often expressed in the allusions and intertextual references. I have also tried to look upon these in Dr. Munks testamente.
One of the main questions in this thesis is concerning the position of Dr. Munks testamente in comparison with the aesthetics of postmodernism. The book often places itself in an intermediate position between a modernist and a postmodernist aesthetic, and tends to negotiate between them. Although Dr. Munks testamente often uses postmodernist means, it does not reject modernist means either. The book will not fit any category in La Distinction. It also rejects the homogeneous attitude that the research of Ove Skarpenes reveals. As an alternative, it tries to draw the lines of a possible "legitimate popular culture".